Method of making an applicator package



Feb. 25, I969 E. w. GRIESE, JR 3,429,096

METHOD OFMAKING AN APPLICA'I OR PACKAGE Filed Feb. 12. 1965 [026F144 612856515: WM, m-

United States Patent 37 2 Claims Int. Cl. B65b 3/04, 7/28; Bc 1/06 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The following specification sets forth in detail a novel method of manufacturing a hermetically-sealed package containing a liquid in mass quantities by high-speed machines.

A package of the type produced by the disclosed method includes cellulose material which absorbs the liquid in the container upon contact and thereby permits the liquid to be applied to an object when the cover of the container is removed. The steps of the method are specifically intended to make the manufacture of an article compatible with the use of high-speed production machines.

This invention relates to applicator packages of the kind wherein a dauber housed within the package and carried by the closure may be used to spread or apply a fiowable liquid or cream-like substance that is contained in the package.

Applicator packages of the aforesaid character have found their principal use in connection with liquid or semi-liquid shoe polishes, and with cleaning liquids where the dauber functioned as a rubbing means as well as an applicator, and as heretofore used such applicator packages have been so constructed as to require a relatively large container or bottle containing a relatively great quantity of material, and these packages have therefore constituted multiple use packges.

In view of the foregoing it is the primary object of the invention to enable single use, disposable applicator packages to be produced, and an object related to the foregoing is to enable such applicator packages to be produced rapidly and economically. Further and more specific objects of the present invention are to provide a novel coverdauber assembly that is simple in its design and construction and which is grasped and used as a dauber in a new and convenient manner, to provide such a cover-dauber assembly in which the cover is impervious in character and is adapted to be heat sealed to a container to hermetically seal the dauber and the liquid or similar material within the container, and to provide such a coverdauber assembly wherein oppositely projecting wings or tabs on the cover may be grasped in unison between the fingers and thumb of the user with the dauber exposed and in position such that the material contained in the dauber may be applied in an efiicient and convenient manner.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and claims, and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which, by way of illustration, show a preferred embodiment of the present invention and the principles thereof, and what is now considered to be the best mode in which to apply these principles. Other embodiments of the invention embodying the same or equivalent principles may be used and structural changes may be made as desired by those skilled in the art without departing from the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a full size bottom perspective of a single use applicator package embodying the features of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a lonigtudinal vertical section view of the package immediately after it has been sealed;

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FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 and showing the condition within the package after the flowable material has been absorbed by the dauber;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view, from the line 4-4 of FIG. 2, showing the cover-dauber assembly of the package;

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view showing the coverdauber assembly and the container in a separated relation;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmental portion of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating the manner in which the cover-dauber assembly is grasped and used.

For purposes of disclosure the invention is herein illustrated as embodied in a relatively small single use applicator package 20 that is formed from a shallow top-flange container 21 having a flexible impervious cover 22 hermetically sealed across the flanged top of the container 21 and having an absorbent dauber 23 fixed to the cover 22 within the container 21 where it may absorb the package contents such as a quick drying liquid shoe polish 24. When the cover 22 is separated or pulled from the container 21, oppositely extended tabs or wings W formed on and as parts of cover 22 serve as a holding or handle means whereby the dauber 23 may be supported and manipulated, as an applicator for the liquid material carried in the dauber 23.

The container 21 as herein shown is circular in plan form and as shown in FIG. 6, is formed from aluminum foil to provide a bottom wall 21B, a smooth sloping side wall 218, and a smooth surfaced outward flange 21F at the upper edge of the side wall 218. Preferably the outer edge of the flange 21F has means such as a protective roll 21R formed thereon.

The cover 22 is made from a paper-aluminum foil laminate which, as shown in FIG. 6, comprises an upper paper sheet 26 laminated to a lower aluminum foil sheet 27, and preferably the lower face of the aluminum foil sheet 27 has an overall coating 28 of a protective adhesive that may be activated by heat and pressure. The adhesive 28 may thus be activated locally in areas opposite the flange 21F to hermetically seal the cover 22 to the flange 21F and thus provide a hermetically sealed package. The adhesive 28 is also utilized in the present instance to fix the dauber 23 in position on the lower or inner face of the cover 22.

The dauber 23 is made from a foamed resilient plastic material of the open-cell absorbent type, and preferably the cells of the foam are relatively fine or small so that liquid is discharged uniformly and to the best advantage when the dauber 23 is used in the general manner shown in FIG. 7.

The foam material of the dauber 23 is preferably cellulose, and under this invention the foam material is obtained in a compressed and relatively thin dry sheet so as to facilitate high speed automatic filling and sealing of the packages 20, as will be described. The compressed sheet of foam material has a dry thickness that is but a small fraction of its wet or normal thickness, and

preferably a sheet is selected that has a normal or wet thickness approximating or slightly exceeding the depth of the container 21. The compressed, dried foam material is die cut, prefer-ably into square pieces, as shown in FIG. 4, and these pieces are adhesively secured centrally on the lower face of the cover 22. While separately applied adhesive might be used, it is considered preferable to accomplish the mounting of the dauber 23 by applying heat and pressure which activates the adhesive coating 28. The cover 22 and the dauber 23 thus provide a sub-assembly which may be heat sealed to the container 21 after the desired amount of liquid or flowablev material 24 has been loaded therein, and under the present invention, the cover 22 and the dauber 23 are so formed and related to each other that when the cover 22 is peeled from the container 21, the oppositely projecting tabs or wings W of the cover 22 may be grasped and held in the manner shown in FIG. 7 to thereby dispose the dauber 23 in position for effective and convenient use.

In the production of packages 20 high speed conveying and filling mechanisms of conventional design may be employed, and the flowable or liquid material 24 is introduced into successive containers in a measured amount that is sufficient for the single use or operation to be performed. Preferably the measured fill is such that it may be absorbed completely by the dauber 23. The size and depth of the container 21 is related to this measured fill in such a way that when the cover 22 is put in place, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 6, the dry compressed dauber 23 will be spaced from the upper surface of the fill material 24. Thus, the cover-dauber unit may be put in place rapidly and by automatic means without danger of splashing or displacing the fill material 24 onto the flanges 21F or the sealant layer 28. Contamination of the seal area is thus avoided, and the cover 22 may be sealed reliably to the flange 21F by application of heat and pressure in a known manner and by conventional means.

When the hermetic sealing operation has been completed, the dauber 23 remains in its dry compressed form as shown in FIGS. 2 and 6 until further handling in packing or shipping brings the liquid material 24 into contact with the dauber 23. When this occurs, the liquid is absorbed by the foam material which at this time expands in thickness and assumes its normal wet thickness as shown in FIGS. 3 and 7. All or substantially all of the fill material is absorbed by the dauber 23, and although slight traces of the fill material may remain outside the dauber 23, as indicated at 24T in FIG. 3, these traces are negligible in practice and will not ordinarily run or spill from the container 21 after the package 20 has been opened.

When contents of the package 20 are to be used, the package 20 must be opened by peeling the cover 22 from the container 21, and to facilitate this opening operation as well as the subsequent handling and use of the coverdauber assembly, the cover 22, the container 21 and the dauber 23 are related to each other in a particular manner. Thus it will be observed in FIGS. 1 and 4 that the cover 22 is basically of diamond shape with the corners of the diamond rounded, the two corners at the ends of the minor axis of the cover 22 being rounded at 122 so as to constitute portions of a circle 122C centered at the intersection of major and minor axes and having a diameter equal substantially to the outer diameter of the flange 21F. As will be evident in FIG. 4, the square dauber 23 is disposed on the cover 22 with opposite sides 235 of the dauber 23 parallel to the minor axis of the cover, and this serves to increase the efliective length of the wings W. Thus in FIG. 4 the wings W are indicated as extending to the sides 238 of the dauber 23.

When the cover 22 is in place on the container 21, the rounded corners 122 of the cover 22 fall directly over portions of the edge of the flange 21F, and the user may thus grip and hold the container by engaging opposite edges of the flange at opposite ends of the minor axis of the cover. While holding the container in this manner in one hand, the user may peel back the wings W in succession, leaving portions of the cover 22 in the regions of the corners 122 still attached to the container 21.

The user may then engage and hold the two wings W in the relation shown in FIG. 7, and by then grasping and pulling on one or both of the released portions of the flange 21F, the opening operation may be completed.

Hence, at the end of the opening operation the user has the cover-dauber unit under control and ready for immediate use as shown in FIG. 7. As the dauber 23 is removed from position within the container 21 it carries the entire measured quantity of liquid or flowable material and the container 21 may therefore be discarded at once, while the dauber cover unit may be discarded after the desired use has been made thereof.

From the foregoing description it will be evident that the present invention provides a new and useful single use applicator package, and that the package thus provided is simple and economical in character and is adaptable for rapid production by known types of automatic equipment.

It will also be evident that the single use applicator package provided by this invention may be handled, opened and used in a simple and convenient manner.

Thus, while a preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated herein, it is to be understood that changes and variations may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and. scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A method compatible with high speed conveying and filling operations in the production of single use applicator packages of the type comprising a shallow container having an open top and a cover-dauber unit seated in closure relation across the top, said method comprising providing each cover-dauber unit by securing an absorbent body in centrally underlying position to a cover sheet capable of spanning the top of a container to support such unit without substantial deflection, introducing a measured amount of liquid material through the open top of each container to partially fill each container to a predetermined level, rapidly positioning each coverdauber unit upon each container without splashing or displacing the liquid material by disposing the cover sheet in closure relation spanning the top of the container to support the absorbent body above said level, and completing a peripheral seal between the cover sheet and container before the liquid contacts the absorbent body.

2. A method compatible with high speed conveying and filling operations in the production of single use applicator packages and comprising providing a separate cover-dauber unit for each container by adhering a dry compressed body of open cell foam in centrally underlying position to a cover sheet, said body being expansible to a Wet height approximating the depth of the container, introducing a measured amount of liquid material through the open top of each container to partially fill each container to a predetermined level, rapidly positioning each cover-dauber unit upon each container without splashing or displacing the liquid material by disposing the cover sheet in closure relation to the container in a relation to support the absorbent body above said level, and completing a peripheral seal between the cover sheet and container before the liquid contacts the compressed body.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,717,174 9/1955 Casanovas 206-56 2,779,465 1/1957 Anderson. 3,035,300 5/1962 Wattles. 3,054,679 9/1962 Bradford 53-133 X 3,299,464 1/1967 OBrien et al. 15506 THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

NEIL A-BRAMS, Assistant Examiner.

, UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,429,096 February 25 1969 Elmer W. Griese, Jr.

It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

In the heading to the printed specification, line 5, "Containers" should read Products Signed and sealed this 31st day of March 1970.

(SEAL) Attest:

WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR.

Attesting Officer 

